The One With First Impression Of Nuuk

At first I didn’t realise if we were flying over Greenland. All that I can see out of my 20-seater propeller plane was vast expanse of whiteness. Is that cloud, or land mass? Or more accurately, (gasp!) snow-covered land mass? Turned out that it was the latter. I was witnessing, for the first time in my life, the unbelievable large continent of ice this far up north of earth.

It was incredible, not only by how dwarfed I felt, but also how vulnerable I was flying this high up in a small plane. But soon enough, the flight ended and we landed in the smallest airport with the shortest conveyer belt in the world. There was no security to speak of and I almost volunteered myself to take my luggage directly from the plane’s cargo compartment.

First impression of the people – incredibly nice and friendly. And I do mean it. Everyone we met spoke to us with great sincerity and seemingly enthusiastic to help. Much later on I realised that’s properly they find us intriguing; we look like one of them, only much Asian.

For Greenlanders are devastatingly good looking people. A definite cross between Caucasians and Asians, many of the people we saw here spotted blonde hair with cherubic, white skin, yet slanty, dark eyes. It was intoxicating to be surrounded by such beauty, and their surprisingly good grasp of English didn’t help my over-the-top adoration for them.

Nuuk is the capital town of Greenland, and by any standard it was the smallest country capital I ever visited. Though I didn’t realise then, Nuuk town is a mix of the old and new, the traditional and modern, the local and the colonial, and it is not always pleasant.

But against the backdrop of snow-capped mountain, candy-coloured dainty houses and icebergs drifting lazily across its surrounding sea, there is a magic in the air that is almost tangible to the touch.

Liping made an excellent, excellent choice with our accomodation. It is a large apartments with plenty of space and look out to the sea, I can see icebergs – icebergs! – out of the window while I sipped on my Nescafe – Nescafe! – and type this.

A quick word about our dinner that night. Charoen Porn was my choice as it was indeed recommended by many guides and even some locals, but I was left decidedly underwhelmed by the food we experienced that night. Though probably not the wisest decision to go for set menus for the two of us, the Greenlandic sushi was certainly a first, where I get to taste whale meat (a delightful cross between beef and chicken) and whale skin (blubbered skins that tasted like crunchy pork neck).